Sunday, February 22, 2015

If I Could Find The Person Who Invented Button Hoarding!

I am slowly moving the last few things back into my studio.

I'm at that stage that you get to when you're moving - where nothing really fits into a category you've defined and you just want to throw everything away.

So I'm coming across things like fracking extra buttons.

Who IS the person that decided that a) extra buttons should be included with clothing and b) convinced us all to save them??

I have 80 squillion packages of extra buttons that I have NOT ONCE sewn onto a piece of clothing. I just shove them into drawers, put them with my crafty stuff thinking I'll craft with them, and then find them 12 years later and wish I could pinch that person's head off!

If I could go back in time and talk to myself I'd tell myself never to save one single button and to pay myself a quarter every time I snipped a little package off some new clothes and tossed it in the trash - I'd be a billionaire!!

Now in order to take a break from my Cinderella drudgery in the button mines, I've been playing around with my MISTI

True confession time - I still am not really friends with photopolymer stamps. Stop yelling - I know most people love them, and we can all still be friends. I own many of them. But they are more of an acquaintance than a BFF. My BFF is rubber. I don't know if it's just a feel thing or what. But stop judging me. I can feel your little scowls.

But rubber just couldn't do some of the fun things you could do with photopolymer in terms of alignment - until the MISTI.

The Stamp-a-Ma-Jig works great for wood mounted stamps - but it doesn't work as well with cling stamps - it just doesn't fit those acrylic blocks quite right - for me, anyway. They just don't get seated into the handle as well.

So, truth be told, I have been neglecting some of my favorite multi-step stamps that I only have in cling. Like Stippled Blossoms, for example.

But hallelujah - thanks to my MISTI that neglect ended yesterday.


Pin It

The key to stamping with stamps you can't see through was just to have a transparent sheet I could tape down and use as a positioning sheet.

I found these quilting guides thanks to someone on Splitcoast that are PERFECT - I just cut them down to the correct size and now I have great guide I can use over and over.


http://www.amazon.com/Quilters-Gridded-Plastic-Template-X11/dp/B000CF936A/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=21212215-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=ZOGPJJVK3EX2XQHY&creativeASIN=B000CF936A

This was such a revelation for me but I found it hard to explain, so I made you a little video. And sorry about the quality of the video - I'm not back in my regular shooting setup yet, so I'm having to make do with what I have. I hope this makes sense!



SO much fun and so much possibility now! PS - the tape is here.

A lot of people are considering unmounting all their wood stamps after seeing what this thing can do. I haven't gone that crazy yet, but it's very exciting to find new life in stamps you already have.

Unlike extra buttons.

Those are not exciting at all.

PS - meeting with the retreat center this week so get ready for info!

Loveyameanitbye.

12 comments:

  1. Genius!!!
    Thanks for this big smile on my face!
    ~Bev

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  2. OMG! Now THIS makes perfect sense! LOOOVE IT!!!!!

    PS: not even a little scowl your way! Love you just the way you are! LOL

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  3. I feel the same about photopolymer. I love the idea of them....but in practice, not so much!! Adorable card!

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  4. thud.... the other is a lucky guy to be married to such a smart Chickie! ( tell him that)

    Okay I think you finally pushed me off the fence with this tool.

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  5. What was the name of the tape that you used and where can I find it? I just love your discovery! I did squeal right with you!

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    Replies
    1. Oh my gosh Cynthia I'm such a numbskull - Ha! I will update the post - thank you! But here you go: http://amzn.to/1vqaMCr

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  6. You are so smart!!! Not that I'll go back to red rubber stamps, but I can certainly see the possibilities!

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  7. I LOVE seeing all the tricks that can be done to make this tool indispensable! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  8. Ok, where did you get this quilting thing and how did you cut it so perfectly? I have been using a piece of the acetate that comes with the photopolymer stamps, but this would be so much easier! How do you continue to improve on perfection?!

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  9. If you click on either the photo of them or the text link in my post you will see the ones I bought!

    LOL on perfection - not even close! What's cool about those quilting guides is they are the exact scale she used for the MISTI so you'll see how easy they are to cut when you get one.

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  10. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I've been racking my little brain about how to stamp the 2-step images with the red rubber stamps. I figured that you'd have a video about it. ;) I'm off to go buy tape and the quilting sheet. :)

    ReplyDelete

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